


Birds Behind My Ribs

by EzzyDean



Series: Never Back Down [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 11:11:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3726580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oikawa has a big fat crush and it's all Kageyama's fault</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birds Behind My Ribs

 

Some days Oikawa was sure that Kageyama Tobio was put on this world for the express purpose of making his life, not hell per se, but definitely much more difficult than he deserved.  Because while he deserved a hell of a lot of things, probably more than he admitted he did if you asked Iwa-chan, this was definitely not one of them.  This stupid fluttering in his chest like a million tiny birds fighting to free themselves from the cage of his ribs.  This ridiculous blush kissing his cheeks like a sunset painting the sky.  This constant play and replay of words chasing themselves through his mind.

The narrowing of steely grey eyes - eyes that have a touch of blue to them when you're far closer than you thought - the twist of a scowl, the wrinkle of a brow framed by clean lines of a shaved head.  They all come together in his mind as he replays the interaction again and again.  Analyzing it from every angle he can.

Yet he still doesn’t know what to make of it.

The face that should be - if not frightening because he’s not some wayward child afraid of things that go bump in the night - at least discomfiting was instead charming in it’s own ridiculous way.  The snarl that should be ugly was cute.  The glare knocked the wind out of him but not out of any fear - other than fear of the unknown feelings coursing through him - but because of how much he wanted it.  He wanted those eyes to narrow and the outside world of their owner to simply wash away until he was the only thing left.  A shaved head that he would have never in a million years have imagined he’d find anything other than unpleasant found him instead wondering what exact shade the hair would be if grown out and what that head might feel like under his fingertips.

He, Oikawa Tooru, had a crush on Tanaka Ryuunosuke and it was all Kageyama’s fault.

Because if Tobio-chan hadn’t gone to Karasuno then Oikawa would have never remembered the school as more than a bump in the road on the way through his own high school volleyball career.  If Tobio-chan hadn’t been such a little volleyball genius he never would have been on Oikawa’s radar in the first place and he would definitely not find himself standing on the other side of the net from him with a smirk as he tossed out a few words to rile the younger teen up.

And if none of that had ever happened he would never have locked eyes with Tanaka when he barreled in and placed himself between Tobio-chan and Oikawa and would have never heard the words that flew out of Tanaka’s mouth and battered at him.

“Look I don’t care how cute you are you can’t be mean to my kouhai like that.  You wanna talk shit about him you gotta go through me first!”

Oikawa had simply laughed it off when it happened and strolled back to where Iwa-chan was waiting impatiently for him.

But now, days later, he’s stretching with Iwaizumi before practice and the whole interaction, as short as it had been, keeps rolling through his mind and he sighs.  Iwaizumi doesn’t respond so he sighs louder.

“Either spill it or stop sighing.  We have practice still and I don’t want to spend it listening to you being over dramatic.”

“Iwa-chan how mean.”  Oikawa pouts but he finishes his stretch and turns to help Iwaizumi with their partner stretches.  It’s a familiar routine that soothes the rough tumbling thoughts in his mind as they move smoothly from stretch to stretch.

“Oikawa.”

“Iwa-chan?”  Iwaizumi raises an eyebrow.  “Am I really that cute?”

Iwaizumi lets go of Oikawa and watches with some small amount of pleasure as his best friend nearly falls on his stupid face.

“Seriously?  This still?  I swear Assikawa if you ask me that one more time,” his voice trails off as they head over to the coach to start practice.  He should have known it wouldn’t be the end of it.  Because while Oikawa is a focused as ever during practice Iwaizumi can see his eyes glazing over in the moments during rotations of positions and pauses between practice sets.  “Honestly he’s the one that said it,” he barks out when he catches Oikawa not listening to the coach at the end of practice.  “Why don’t you ask him 50 thousand times instead of me?”

“I don’t have his phone number and I’m pretty sure no one on his team will give it to me.”

Iwaizumi stops and stares as Oikawa picks up a volleyball and tosses it into the cart.  “Is that all that’s stopping you?  Seriously?  Are you sick or something?”  He throws another ball at Oikawa’s head and sighs when his friend gives him a confused pout.  It doesn’t really have the effect he’s sure Oikawa was actually going for - years as Oikawa’s best friend has mostly made him immune to those dumb looks - but he explains himself anyway.  “If you’re that obsessed with him just go back and ask him for his number.”

“Iwa-chan that’s perfect!  But you have to come with me for moral support!”

“No.”

Iwaizumi has every intention of staying as far away from this as he possibly can.

It’s almost a week later when he’s waiting impatiently outside the door to the gym for Oikawa to show up so they can head inside when his phone goes off with the generic ringtone he uses for people he doesn’t know well enough to assign a personal tone to.  For the most part that list is classmates he’s working on projects with and a handful of volleyball related contacts from various teams.  He’s not the captain but he is often chosen as the team “representative” when it comes to keeping in touch with other teams.

Sawamura Daichi’s name pops up on the screen and Iwaizumi feels a curl of frustration before he even opens the messages.

_Oikawa.  Is at.  MY practice.  UNSUPERVISED._

A second message pops up as he finishes the first.

_Do you hate me that much?_

He’s already figuring out what to tell the coach because honestly he’s not going to Karasuno High just to drag Oikawa home today.  He has two essays and an hour’s worth of math problems to finish after practice.

**_No I don’t Sawamura-san.  But I love my sanity more.  If he gets too be too much trouble a volleyball to the head should be enough._ **

After a moment of consideration he sends another message as he steps into the locker room.

_**Not too hard though if possible.  I have far too much homework to do tonight to be dragging him home with a concussion.** _

 

Daichi glares down at his phone as if _it_ were the root of all the evil in his gym at the moment.  A growling comes from near the net and he throws his phone onto his towel with a huff.  Today is a free day for them.  They don’t happen often but neither Coach Ukai nor Takeda-sensei could make it in after school so they were in the start of what Suga had dubbed a “Free flight” day.  It was chaos.  But a fun kind of chaos meant to help them remember that while volleyball was serious it was also still fun.  It gave them a chance to relax and just play.  No real rules other than no roughhousing and don’t let the ball hit the floor.

It had quickly descended into a particularly uncomfortable chaos when Oikawa Tooru had sauntered through the door like he owned the gym.  The moment Kageyama had spotted him he had stiffened and accidentally tossed the ball straight into the back of Asahi’s head.  Then there had been some sputtered insults from Kageyama, smooth smirks and cool replies from Oikawa, and now Noya and Tanaka are joining the fray.

Daichi isn’t sure if he should break the fight up by shouting or if he should start off with a volleyball like Iwaizumi had suggested.  Because, in Daichi’s opinion, even this much was too much trouble when Oikawa is concerned.  Suga steps over with a concerned smile and props the volleyball they had been using against his hip.

“He’s taunting Kageyama but actually he seems more focused on getting Tanaka’s attention,” Suga murmurs and bumps Daichi’s shoulder.  “Which is a little concerning.”

Oikawa smirks at something Tanaka and Noya say and Daichi decides he’s had enough.  He grabs the ball from Suga’s grip and before Suga can react and he can change his mind he spikes it straight into the back of Oikawa’s head.

It bounces sharply and he watches as Noya’s eyes widen and he instinctively saves it, popping it high into the air.

Suga calls out “Free ball,” and they watch the team spring into action.

Oikawa really isn’t sure what’s happening.  One moment he was giving some smart comeback to Tanaka and Karasuno’s libero and the next he was blinking away tears as someone yelled “Free ball” and he expects to hear Iwaizumi’s scolding voice ringing out across the court.

Someone shouts his name and he looks up and instantly reacts to the ball flying towards him.  The receive puts it high in the air and leaves his arms stinging.  A quick glance shows him that it was most likely Kageyama who launched it at him from the other side of the net.  He blinks a few times, eyes wide, as he takes in what’s going on around him.  No one is keeping any sort of position or following any kind of rule that he can see.  The ball is passed four or five times on his side before it’s set to be spiked across to the other side.  Karasuno’s freckled server was the one to set to Tanaka.  It was a rather sloppy, unpracticed move but the way Tanaka cheered when he connected with the ball made it seem like the best thing in the world.

The shorty receives it with a determined look on his face and then once again chaos is breaking out.  It’s not until the ace spikes it down on their side, the ball glancing off the libero’s arms with a painful sounding whomp and flying towards the benches, that he finally gets a moment to regain his senses.  He tries to make it over to talk to Tanaka but then the captain and vice-captain are jogging over to join in the fray and he’s swept up again.  And again.  And again.

It’s almost as fun as it is frustrating because he just wants to talk to Tanaka and figure out just what the hell he meant by calling Oikawa cute but every time he gets close the ball is in play or they shuffle people around.  He turned to snap when someone pushed him under the net to switch sides and nearly bit his tongue when he spotted Tanaka’s grin and suddenly the sweaty hands on his back felt warm and comforting as Tanaka ushered him to the other side of the net.

It’s not until they’re stretching and cooling down that he even gets the chance to join Tanaka again and even then he’s far too warm and tired to properly get his words together.  He’s had tougher practices with his own team, and much tougher on his own before Iwa-chan drags him away, but it’s been awhile since he’s been forced to play so many different positions so quickly.  The fluidity that they all changed with was impressive - even though most of Karasuno sucked at attempting any position they weren’t normally in the ease and trust in their swapping was interesting.

Finally he manages to sidle up next to Tanaka as he pushes the cart around to collect the stray volleyballs.  He plans on saying something smooth and suave but those damn birds in his chest swell and burst and pound against his ribs and he spurts out, “Did you mean it when you called me cute?”

Something clatters near the sidelines but he’s focused on Tanaka’s face and the way those steely eyes widen - there’s that touch of blue he remembers and wow when did he lean in so close to the other teen - before Tanaka bursts out laughing.

Something catches in his throat, probably those stupid birds trying to choke him for his ridiculous thoughts, and he starts to turn away.  He can’t believe he wasted so much time the last couple weeks thinking about those stupid words.  He was nearly as dumb as Tobio-chan.

“Wait,” Tanaka’s voice is rough from laughing and it rubs at Oikawa’s nerves.  Nerves that don’t even have the decency to be rattled.  Instead the voice soothes him and he doesn’t yank away from Tanaka when he wraps his fingers around Oikawa’s wrist.  “I did mean it.  You are cute.  I was just surprised that you went through an entire Flight Practice with us just to ask me that.”

“What?”  Oikawa can feel the others giving them looks and he’s pretty sure he hears someone snicker.

“Flight Practice.  The free-for-all thing we just did.  I’m impressed actually it’s not easy to get into it if you don’t know it’s coming cause we’re all kind of intense but you jumped in like it was no problem.  You’re not just cute you’re pretty awesome too.  You should totally come back again!”

Tanaka grins at him and gives him a wink and Oikawa is pretty sure he’s screwed.

\--

“Iwa-chan,” he whines the next day as he pouts and leans against his friend’s desk.  “I forgot to get his number!”

 


End file.
